Bancor loses $23.5 million in crypto to attackers

“A wallet used to upgrade some smart contracts was compromised,” it states. The attackers ripped off Ethereum worth $12.5 million (£9.5 million), $1 million (£755,000) in Pundi X’s NPXS, and $10 million (£7.5 million) in Bancor’s BNT.

Bancor, whose services include a wallet with a built-in exchange, made the spotlight last year after it raised over $150 million (£113 million) in an ICO. The exchange says it froze its BNT, but was unable to freeze the other tokens it deals with. It has contacted other exchanges to “make it more difficult for the thief to liquidate” the loot.

It has also suspended operations while it investigates and carries out efforts to find those responsible for the attack and recover the stolen tokens. Bancor says its exchange is decentralised, a claim that Litecoin Founder and CEO Charlie Lee refutes, arguing that, if this were the case, it would not be able to lose or freeze customer funds.

While it is offline, the venture will carry out “maintenance and will be releasing a more detailed report shortly. We look forward to being back online as soon as possible.”